Category Archives: Walt Disney

Walt Disney deserves to be appreciated not only for his animated films and his creation of the Never-Never land known as Disneyland, but also for the way he taught generations of Americans important truths about ourselves and our society.

Thursday marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of filmmaker and theme-park creator extraordinaire Walt Disney. Despite Disney’s status as a beloved icon of popular culture, he remains woefully under-appreciated as a filmmaker — especially for his live-action productions, which are often dismissed as trite or inconsequential. As I explain in my book Walt Disney and Live Action, that assessment is far from the truth.

During the last decade of Disney’s life, America underwent tumultuous changes, some good (like advances in civil rights), but others troubling, such as the fracturing of family structure, the rise of moral relativism, and the unrestrained growth of big government. Although most film critics failed to notice, Disney — the prophet of middle America — addressed these topics and more throughout his films.

The Deeper Side of Disney

The Light in the Forest (1958) tackled contemporary racial prejudice in the guise of an eighteenth-century drama about a white youth raised by Native Americans who tries to integrate back into white society. Moon Pilot (1962) poked fun at the nihilism of the emerging counter-culture in San Francisco. A Tiger Walks (1964) skewered the news media’s cynical manipulation of politics. The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and Son of Flubber (1963) satirized officious federal bureaucrats.

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